The Grace of Primus
by RogueRaven21
Summary: Movieverse. OCxOC On indefinit hiatus. Character development has kicked in. I hope to have the new version soon.
1. Tension

EDIT: A/N: I'm ashamed to admit, I had forgotten all about Wheeljack when I started writing this. (Don't ask me how) I began re-watching Season 1 and had a hand to forehead moment. By then, I was already some 20 pages into the story (up to what is now chapter 4) and decided to just run with it. So yes, Jack (named and based on my own 1999 Hyundai Accent) is a OC (so mine) and Grace Wolftrack (also mine) is a, I now realize, a dreaded female OC. The other Transformers (totally Hasbro's, not mine sadly) will show up soon, I promise!

* * *

"I thought we'd already discussed this, Jack."

Sam could hear the mechanic Grace Wolftrack's voice from her garage deep in the Autobot's base warehouse. Sam had been looking for the older woman, but he had a feeling that walking in on the present conversation would be bad for his health.

"I'm just saying." The Autobot's vocalizer seemed to have a bit more growl to it than usual.

Sam risked peaking around the large paneled doorframe to see the black Accent in car mode with his hood up. The slender Native American woman was bent over, up to her elbows in the mech's engine block.

"It hurts more every time you do." Grace whispered, pain echoing in her voice. She gave something in the engine a hard yank causing Jack to cry out.

"You don't have to cause me pain!" Anger touched the Accent's voice, an uncommon occurrence. Jack was as mellow as they came. Exiled from Cybertron because of he refused to fight in the war. To get him angry took effort, but apparently not so much when Grace was involved, Sam noted.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to." The mechanic sounded like she was fighting back tears.

"Hey, hey it's all right Gracey, don't cry." In a flash he was back to the caring, soothing Jack who could get Ironhide calmed down if necessary, a rather daunting task indeed.

Sam continued to watch, trying to figure out what had gotten Grace to such a state. Whatever it was, it revolved directly around the alien car.

"It's not all right!" She was starting to sound in the verge of hysterics. "I know people say you need to love your work in life, but I don't think they meant being in love with an alien robot that transforms into a Korean hatchback!"

Sam quickly realized that of all the conversations he could have walked in on or over heard, this was definitely the one he should have skipped. No wonder she was so moody all the time.

Jack apparently had taken all he could in car form. Backing up quickly, Grace ended up sitting on the concrete floor. He rapidly transformed and before all the gears could come to a stop from the shifting plates, he was kneeling in front of the young woman, reaching out to her. "Grace." With care and gentleness that seemed impossible for a giant mech, he picked her up like she was no bigger than a china doll, and brought her to his face.

"Grace." He said again." It's not easy for me either. I can give you nothing you deserve. I just want you to be happy, and if that means finding a fleashling that can give you everything I can't," He paused, optics dimming, making it clear that what he was about to say was painful, "then you need to forget about me and move on."

The Lakota woman hammered on the metal fingers holding her with greasy and calloused fists. "You stupid bucket of blots! Don't you think I tried that before I ever admitted that I was in love with you? I don't care if you can't give me things in life!" She met his optics, tears making light coloured rivers on her dirt smudged face. "There's just as much I can't give you. And even if some female Autobots did show up tomorrow, I don't want you to go to one of them! I'm selfish and greedy and I don't want to give you up!"

Jack did his best to let how ashamed he felt show in his bright blue optics. They were both stupid, but at least they realized it. He brought her closer still so that she was able to hug him as best she could and place a gentle kiss on his face plating.

She stifled a yawn and rested her head against his. "Why does arguing with you make me so sleepy?"

"Because of the energy exertion." Jack said simple, then perked up. "Or because of the audience."

Sam froze. Mental alarms were swearing as he watched Grace turn and glare as she caught sight of the teen.

"What do you want Witwicky?" She called, her mood turning entirely hostile in a moment.

"Um, well, Ratchet needs to see you both, something about checking Jack out." His verbal skills vanished in a heartbeat as the powerful Native American stalked towards him.

Jack transformed back into car mode and followed silently, letting Grace convey the mutual message.

She didn't punch him or even threaten to, she just glared at him and stated: "Eavesdrop on us again and you'll end up in a body cast." With her it was no idle threat, it was a promise she would be more than happy to keep.

Sam got the message loud and clear. He'd stumbled onto something he wasn't supposed to know about. All he or anyone else was supposed to know was that Grace and Jack were friends and partners just like Sam and BumbleBee, and nothing more.


	2. Repairs

"What's up Doc?" Jack called as he and Grace entered the med lab. The black mech had spent one year too many in a junkyard run by an owner who enjoyed Warner Bros. cartoons.

Ratchet looked up from one of his monitors. "I was beginning to wonder. I sent Sam for you a while ago."

"He got distracted." Grace growled menacingly.

Ratchet had enough experience dealing with organic females between Grace, Mikaela, and Judy Witwicky to recognize when to not press for details.

"How do you want me, Doc?" The smaller Autobot asked, remaining in car mode.

"Like you are, pop your hood." The older mech came over and when Jack obliged his request, leaned over to peer into the engine block. After a moment of checking various parts, he vocalized. "You and Grace get into another argument?"

Neither answered, making the medic groan in annoyance. "Grace, I told you that excessive pressure on his intake valve causes pain for him."

"Wait you told her?! And you did it on purpose?! Jack couldn't look at either of them, but they each knew who was the target of what statement.

"I told her quite a bit because you only let her service you 98 of the time." Ratchet continued to check things out, ignoring the other's tone.

"I said I was sorry! I really didn't mean to hurt you!" Grace sounded defensive from where she stood a few feet away.

"Jack, did you know you're missing a bolt on your spark chamber?" The medic had long since learned to tune out the conversations of his patients that didn't involve him.

There was a long pause as the woman carefully and slowly slipped her left hand out of sight. The movement was not missed by Ratchet.

Jack spoke up at last. "Must have gotten knocked loose." He supplied.

"Right," it was clear the yellow mech didn't believe a word, but let it slid, "let me go ahead and replace that before something irreparable happens to your spark." He turned away and began rummaging through trays of spare parts. "Transform back, it's easier to work on your spark chamber that way."

The Accent quickly shifted and stood there, not looking at the female mechanic. He had given her that missing bolt, a piece of himself as close as physically possible to his spark. She had then gotten it melted down and shaped into a simple ring that fit snuggly on her ring finger. The whole situation made their recent conversation echo painfully in his processor. She'd apologized several times for hurting him, but he had yet to do the same for her.

It was quiet in the lab as Ratchet replaced the bolt. While he worked, Jack finally looked at Grace and held her gaze.

"All right, I'm done. Come back in a few orns so I can check on that and make sure it hasn't worked itself loose. And Grace, he needs an oil change."

"Thanks Ratchet." She said and moved to the door.

Jack began to follow, but was stopped by a large hand on his shoulder. He looked back at the medic. "She loves you, Jack." He vocalized quietly so not to alert the retreating mechanic.

"And all I have to offer her is a bolt." The Accent replied, bitterness clear in his voice.

"That's all you had. You already gave her your spark. I can even see that. Remember that." Ratchet released the younger mech and returned to checking his monitoring system.

Jack felt himself smile as he easily caught up to the young woman. "Hey Grace, wanna go for a ride? I'll let you shift my gears."

For the first time all day, she smiled as she eyed him. "All right, I promise to be gentle." Her smile quickly turned into a seductive grin.

A jolt went through his system (how did she **DO** that?) and he transformed faster than normal, throwing open the driver's side door.

She scrambled in and took over the driving. Putting in the clutch, she slammed the gearshift into first. Gentle she was not, but he loved it. They had fought and while they couldn't offer the fantastic make-up sex the web was filled with stories of, they had their own way of making up.

A shudder shook his frame as Grace slammed into 2nd, easily maneuvering through the warehouse's wide corridors to the sunlight outside. They had nothing to really offer each other but they weren't giving up. Despite everything, they were having way too much fun to quit now.


	3. Sunbathing

They drove out to the hills, a place that was quiet, secluded and away from everyone. Jack let her drive and simply indulged in Grace shifting his gears.

"Hey Gracey."

"What's up?"

"Y'know the band White Snake?"

"Why? Can you drive? I need to get my sunglasses." Grace let go of the steering wheel and began rummaging through her large shoulder bag. She didn't carry a purse primarily due to the diagnostic laptop she kept on hand out of habit.

The Autobot seamlessly took over the steering. "Have you seen any of their music videos?" There was a hint of slyness tingeing his vocalizer.

The Lakota woman put on the dark glasses and put her hands back on the wheel out of habit. "I thought I told you to stay off of YouTube." Sighing, she let go of the wheel again to rub her eyes with one hand, lifting the shades with the other.

"I was bored!" Jack defended.

"I am **not** shaking my ass in a mini skirt on your hood." The mechanic said firmly.

"Aw, come on. Please?" The Accent pleaded. It wasn't fair. BumbleBee got Mikaela on his hood. Granted, Sam had been there too, but really! It was close enough, but did the Camaro appreciate it? No. The yellow Autobot had grumbled that he was trying to delete the memory file from his processor. Sam must have done **something** that mortified him.

The black mech came to a stop at the crest of the hill the Autobots frequented. The bright afternoon sunlight warmed his plates making his cooling system kicked on automatically. Feeling the liquid coursing through him and dropping his internal temperature made him settle on his struts.

Grace got out and walked around to the back of the hatchback. Pop the trunk for me?" When he did, she grabbed a large beach towel and suntan lotion. Having what she needed, she gently closed the hatch and approached the front again.

"Uh, what are you doing, Gracey?" Jack asked curiously.

She spread the towel over his hood and began coating her skin in the lotion. "I'm getting too pale from spending all day in the warehouse with you. It's embarrassing for a full blooded Lakota woman to be paler than a white Swedish librarian."

It took a moment for the bot to check all the references. "So what are you doing?"

"Getting a tan." The mechanic put the bottle down on the hood and stripped off her shirt. "An even tan." She added.

The mech couldn't believe his optic sensors as Grace removed the rest of her clothing and applied more of the lotion. "Is this legal by human standards?" He asked, stumbling over the words.

"Probably not." She carefully climbed on the car and stretched out on the towel. "Why? Are you complaining?"

"Slag no. I just don't want to see you arrested."

"Then keep your sensors alert." She smiled wickedly. "I'm counting on you."

They didn't talk for a while. Grace baked in the sun while Jack busily thanked every greater power he knew for the fantastic fortune of having an unbelievably beautiful person, naked, on his hood. There was a Primus, he was convinced.

After a half hour, the Accent sensed that his companion's skin had reached optimum tone before it burned and caused pain. "Grace, you're done."

She stirred, indicating that she had dozed off in the comfortable warmth. "Thanks, Jack." She skillfully rolled over without moving off of the towel, arching her back and letting her breasts press against the windshield.

His processor was going into overclock. He'd spent a lot of time surfing the web (including YouTube) and knew that this was a very, very good position to be in. A coherent thought made it's way through and the Autobot ventured vocalizing with the young woman before she dozed off again. "You refused the whole White Snake thing, but you'll willingly cook yourself without any clothes on my hood."

"I have my dignity." She said simply. "If you prefer, I'll wear a skirt next time."

"No, no this is fine." Jack assured her.

"Do I really look that good to you? I'm not exactly your type. I mean, I am made up of organic parts."

"Hey, I know beauty when I see it, organic **or **cybertronic. For example, your laptop is kinda cute."

"I am so going to slash your tires."

"I'm just vocalizing! My point is I know that I like what my optics are processing and that's that!"

Satisfied, the mechanic smiled and closed her eyes happily. They lulled into a comfortable silence and Jack was almost off-line when his sensors went off.

"Time to get dressed Gracey, we've got company." He vocalized regretfully.

The Lakota woman was off and dressed in a flash. The Autobot giggled in his processor at the idea that she could transform faster than he could.

She was folding the towel when the intruder came into view, but they both relaxed when they recognized the large black truck coming up the hill.

Ironhide came to a stop and transformed beside the others. "Hey sparklings, been looking for you."

"Just getting some sun, what's up?" The Accent asked.

"Optimus is having a briefing about human's foreign 'diplomacy'." The Topkick's sarcasm was clear as he mimicked quotation marks.

"All right, but why'd you come all the way out here?" Grace asked, gently running her hand over Jack's plates.

"You both took off so suddenly, afraid we might have lost you again." The weapon's specialist vocalized reluctantly, looking away form the couple.

The mechanic smiled wistfully. "You're stuck with me now."

"And we wouldn't want it any other way." The smaller of the two mechs vocalized quietly.


	4. Time

A/N: Edit- I totally didn't pay attention to the file name and date at the top of the last three chapters. I have fixed it! LOL Guess I shouldn't post when I'm half asleep.

More Autobots are coming, I promise. It's just taking alot longer to type up the 100+ long hand pages than I thought it would. I hope to type up/edit the chapters a little faster so I can catch up to current writing.

Thanks for your understanding about the whole Jack thing!

And I like reviews. I just don't A/N often because I don't think about it till later. Enjoy!

* * *

The drive back to the base was quiet. Jack and Ironhide drove silently while Grace sat in the Accent's driver's seat lost in thought. Between the quiet and soothing thrum of the Autobot's engine, the gentle motion, and the fact she had spent the better part of an hour basking in the sun, the mechanic found her eyes start to close as she began dozing.

Jack spoke up when she nearly broke her nose on the steering wheel from nodding. "Climb in the back and take a nap, I'll get us home safe."

The Lakota woman nodded sleepily and sluggishly crawled between the front seats to the back bench. Curling up to fit all the way on the plush cushioning, she was almost instantly asleep. She never stirred as they entered the spacious warehouse that served as HQ for the time being, not even when Ironhide transformed directly beside them.

Remaining as silent as before, the two black mechs joined the other Autobots already present in the main open space just inside the heavy doors. Optimus Prime quickly noted the former exile remaining in his alt mode. "Something wrong, Jack?"

"No sir, Gracey's offline and I don't want to wake her." The small bot reported quietly.

"Very well, this will be a brief meeting." The semi turned to one of the blank walls where a display of Nations friendly to the United States was projected.

Brief he was not. It was a large amount of uninteresting information. Ironhide began to fidget, Bumblebee stared poking Jazz, and even Ratchet's optics started dimming as some of his systems threatened to go offline. Only Jack appeared to be paying attention as Optimus continued to vocalize, but in reality he was keeping his sensors on Grace and surfing the web for anything that could keep him entertained.

Realizing he had lost his audience the Autobot leader gave a sigh. "We will continue this later. Dismissed."

Bumblebee and Jazz were transformed and burning rubber out of the warehouse before they reached the door, no doubt headed back over to the Witwicky's residence. Ratchet slowly returned to the med lab to continue whatever project was keeping him busy as Ironhide went out to the firing range set up behind the warehouse. With a nod to Jack, Optimus headed to their communications room to continue his vigil waiting for anyone else to reply to his signal.

The Accent, now alone in the room, checked on Grace and found that she was still out cold. With everything quiet, the black mech rolled to a corner of the room and began thinking about what Ironhide has mentioned earlier: _"'Afraid we'd lost you again."_

What the old warrior had been referring to still haunted Jack's processor when he went off line. And sometimes, he realized as a tremor went through his chassis, even when he wasn't.

* * *

They had been partners for a good while. She knew what he was, knew that he was alien and why he was on Earth. To his great surprise, she expressed no problems with the fact that he was an exile from a distant planet. They lived in the northern Midwest of the U.S., moving from town to town as Grace worked as a mechanic for whoever would hire her.

The young woman fought the double employment demons of being a female in a male dominated career field and a minority among ignorant people. It didn't matter that she was a particularly gifted mechanic with a college degree to back it up, old prejudices still ran strong in the areas around the Lakota reservation. More often than not, she was turned away from garages before anyone looked at her resume; being told she was weak and drunk looking for beer money.

The Cybertronian could not processes how humans could treat each other so poorly or how Grace never got upset and never took it personally. She told him once that she was used to it. He didn't think that should have mattered.

Then Optimus Prime's signal and message came through.

Jack didn't know what to do. He had been exiled years before, but the message was for any surviving Autobots and he never ceased believing himself one. Unsure what to do, he played the message for Grace. When it was done, she just smiled at him and asked: "Where is the signal coming from?"

"Uh," he triangulated the signal's source, "south from here."

"Then I guess we're going south." She said simply, and then smiled softly at him. "If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's that you belong with your people."

They had left that night. Grace slept most of the way while Jack only stopped to recharge enough to keep going. The whole time he drove he was a nervous wreck. Who would be there? Was the war over? Would they demand that he be exiled from their new home? It was enough to overclock his processors.

To his surprise and relief, the Autobots were more than happy to set optics on him. He had to be filled in on the recent events regarding the Decepticons and the All Spark. He'd found his way to Earth some years after the humans had hidden the Cube and knew nothing of it.

Formalities were forgotten after the update as Jack and Bumblebee chest slammed each other, followed by the Accent slapping servos with the still recovering Jazz, and then wincing as Ironhide firmly whacked him on the back plates.

Unsure what to do, Grace had stood back and watched. It was Ironhide who noticed her and approached her. She didn't waver when the warrior narrowed his optics and leaned close to her, demanding to know where she came from.

"My name is Grace Wolftrack and I'm here with Jack." She said boldly, nodding to the small black mech. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Topkick smirk in approval, and stepped away to give her space.

When introductions were completed, Optimus Prime got everyone's attention and summoned the new arrival to stand before him.

"I understand you are going by Jack now?" The semi's deep voice resonated through the large space of the main room.

"Yes sir."

"I know why you were exiled from our world, but I consider your sentence served. Your are welcome here and welcome to join us once again." Prime rested a large hand on the smaller mech's shoulder and smiled.

"Thank you, sir." Jack said humbly, bowing his head in respect.

Grace stood behind the Cybertronians and lowered her own head so no one would see the sadness that had appeared across her face.

Late that night, when Jack was recharging on the berth the others had offered him, Grace silently slipped into the room. She looked at her friend for a long moment, memorizing his features, then leaned close to place a gentle kiss on his faceplate. Biting back tears, she straightened, left a note where he would see it, and left as silently as she had come.

It wasn't much later when the Autobot came back online, his optics instantly focusing on the piece of paper sitting on a table beside the berth. It had just two words in Grace's perfect script: 'Good-bye Jack.' He was on his feet and out the door in a moment, running into the somber looking Ironhide and Jazz.

"I'm sorry, Jack." The weapons specialist vocalized sadly. "Grace left."

The Accent shoved past them and was out the door, transforming as he went. As soon as his tires hit the pavement, he peeled out and roared down the road. Quickly checking the web, he searched for the nearest public transportation. The local train station's schedule listed a train going north in the next ten minutes. _'You need to be with your people' _she had said, and he knew that she would be taking that train.

Halfway there, the sky opened up, dumping much needed rain on the summer baked earth. While the cars on the road with him slowed down, Jack sped up, passing the human controlled vehicles at every opportunity. He continued at speeding until the station came into view through the darkness and rain. Zooming his optics to the platform, he made out the form of Grace standing alone.

Not caring who saw him, the Autobot transformed and maxed out his vocalizer: "GRACE!" His giant strides shook the ground as he ran, the thick mud clinging to his plates. "GRACE!"

The mechanic turned; hearing him at last over the sheet of water, surprise widening her eyes. The train whistle blew, making her jump. Unsure what to do she looked between the waiting train and the alien mech approaching her.

"Don't Grace!" He was almost there; he had to stop her from leaving no matter what.

The train whistle blasted again as it began to slowly pull away from the platform. The young woman turned and ran.

Jack fell to his knees as the much smaller organic life form ran towards him, slipping on the wet cement of the platform. When she reached the edge, she fearlessly jumped off and slammed into the black mech's chest, hugging him as tightly as she could.

"Why Gracey? Why'd you leave?" The confusion was clear in the Accent's vocalizer.

"You don't need me here." He had to strain his audios to hear her over the rain.

"Yes I do! I need you Grace! You're more than just my mechanic!" Jack pulled open his chest plating, revealing the blue glimmer of his spark. With a quick twist of a servo, he got a bolt off his spark chamber's casing. Offering it to her, he pleaded. "I know I can't give you much of anything, but take this! It's the closest thing to my spark that I have! Please Grace, understand what I'm vocalizing to you!"

She looked up at him, her tears lost among the raindrops on her face as she carefully took the bolt from him. "I understand Jack, I understand." She tightened her grip on him again and whispered: "I love you."

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The mechanic's waking yawn brought Jack back to the present. "Have a good recharge?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." She climbed out of the backseat and stretched while the mech transformed. "Wanna go tease Ironhide?"

He gave her a concerned look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd process that you liked risking your life."

"Maybe, but it's fun! Come on!" Grace took off towards the weapons specialist's quarters.

Jack smiled and followed, saying a quick mental prayer of thanks to Primus that he had made it time.


	5. Strong Armour, Old Wounds

A/N: Thanks goes out to Okami-chan far beta-ing this chapter. You saved my notebook from being shredded and my laptop from being punched. Thank you so much.

And thank **you**, yes you, for reading this! I have never been confident about letting others read my writing, so this was a leap for me, thank you so much for making it a positive experience!

And I still don't own Transformers. Sigh.

* * *

He had to know they were there. He had made it to head security officer for a reason after all; he had to be letting them 'sneak up' on him.

Jack slid forward into the big mech's quarters and gently launched Grace onto Ironhide. The young woman latched onto the back of the Topkick's helm. She let the breath knocked out of her by the impact of hitting the solid metal escape in a mad giggle.

"You want something?" he growled fiercely, not bothering to turn any attention away from the cannons on the work table before him.

"To harass you," the human said sweetly, carefully clamoring to the warrior's broad shoulder.

"You're succeeding." Ironhide finally turned to look at the smaller Autobot still lingering behind him. "Ste- Sparkling, you're guilty by association you know."

"More of an accessory to the crime." Jack grinned, meeting the larger mech's optics and choosing to ignore the other's vocalizer glitch.

The weapons specialist looked away after a moment. Underlying the playful banter, tension passed between the two mechs, and consequently, the woman in their presence. The Accent hadn't always gone by such a human name; Grace had christened him 'Jack' when she bought him from the junkyard. He did not use his Cybertronian name now, something Ironhide forgot at times. The old name held associations to what had happened back on their home world, and Ironhide's involvement in the events leading to Jack's exile.

"What are you doing today?" Grace asked, disrupting the increasing tension as she hooked her legs on the mech's shoulder plate and hung upside down over the Topkick's back.

"I was calibrating my cannons before you decided to use me as a climbing structure." Despite the harsh tone, he let no force radiate behind the words. Anyone on base could tell that the old warrior had a soft circuit for the mechanic. He admired her bravery, standing up to him that first day. She saw him as a big brother, a much bigger, taller, stronger brother who would back her no matter what. Those feelings were the reason she had gone to him to get Jack's bolt melted down into the ring she wore.

"You're cannons are always calibrated. You're hiding from Optimus." Jack grinned, his level of smugness sure to lead to injury.

"Slag off glitch mouse." Where Ironhide had refrained any real harshness towards Grace, he let his voice drop an octave to get an extra rumble in the words.

"Hey 'Hide, is that a spot of rust I see?"

The big mech let out a sigh, his servos stilling over the powerful cannons. "Little Grace, I'm going to rip out his vocalizer and hang it on my wall."

"Why would I stop you?" Her voice sounded strained as she grabbed hold of his waist plating and skillfully flipped to the ground. "Even if I could, I mean."

Ironhide turned to give the smaller mech a menacing stare before moving around Grace and toward the former exile.

"Whoa, whoa, Gracey!" Jack tripped over his own feet trying to get out of the room and away from the other black bot. A few more crashes followed as the Accent banged his way back into hallway in a hasty retreat.

"I knew he was going to be trouble. Should have deactivated him when I had the chance," the Topkick grumbled loudly to himself as he turned his attention back to his cannons.

"You taught him on Cybertron?" the Lakota woman asked quietly, leaning on the table so she could face him.

The warrior didn't stop his work, nor did he look at her. "Served with him too. He wasn't the best soldier, no specialty other than his temper, but he had his Spark in the cause." He grew quiet for a moment before vocalizing again. "I was the first to call him a coward when he refused to fight."

Jack had refused to continue fighting in the war with the Decepticons when he realized that the fighting and the death dealing on both sides were contributing to the destruction of the planet. He had stood his ground when faced with exile and being called a coward by the Autobot he respected the most. As far as the Accent was concerned, what had happened on Cybertron and his old name should forgotten by everybody.

After a moment, Ironhide vocalized again. "I had no right to do to him what I did. It's a circuit connection I will never be able to repair."

"He has never mentioned that to me. You know Jack, he doesn't hold grudges." Grace hoisted herself up on the worktable to better see Ironhide's face.

"He's changed over the vorns. The Jack I knew was selfish and easily angered. When he refused to fight, it was difficult for some of us to believe he actually had noble intensions and not just saving his own aft. Then he stood before an entire board and would not bend. Reprocessing everything now, I can see what was happening, but that doesn't delete what I vocalized then."

A small organic hand gently touched his cannon-less arm, making the black mech finally focus his optics on her. "Ironhide let it go. He has, and if what happened then made him the Autobot he is now, I'm glad. We all know that he isn't a coward." She shrugged. "Let it go."

He looked away and focused on his cannon again, his faceplates suddenly devoid of all emotion. "If we had listened to him back then, we may not have lost Cybertron or at least not as many comrades. He saw what we ignored, and he paid the price." His vocalizer grew quieter. "He's going to get into trouble without you."

Grace recognized the phase as the nicest way the old warrior could convey that he wanted to be alone with his processes. "I'll harass you later," she said softly, jumping off the table and heading towards the door.

"I'd like that." Ironhide vocalized over his shoulder. He saw her smile, and then she was gone.


End file.
